I ask from you no wage for this; surely my wage falls on God, the Lord of the Worlds. This is a report about each of the prophets. Each of them said, “I ask from you no wage for this.” Thus everyone who acts for God's sake will know that it is not appropriate to seek wages from other than God. If one day someone takes a step in God's road and desires a reward or lifts up a request, let him never desire it from other than Him! To Moses it was revealed, “Lift up your request to Me! Whatever you ask for, ask from Me, even the salt for your dough or the straw for your sheep.” This indeed is the degree of the wage-earners, for they act with an ear to the reward. The rec- ognizers have another state and another work. When they act, they do not do so for the sake of the reward. They consider reward a freckle on the face of the deed. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “In any case, calling to account will be for the wage-earners. What calling to account could there be for the recognizers? The recognizer is indeed a guest. The wage of the wage-earner befits the wage-earner, and the feast of the guest befits the host. The resource of the wage-earner is bewilderment, and the resource of the recognizer is face-to-face vision. “The recognizer's spirit is radiant with His love; his spirit is all eye, his secret core all tongue. His eye and tongue are helpless in the light of face-to-face vision. “The wage-earner's heart has the shining light of hope, but the recognizer's spirit has face-to- face vision. The wage-earner wanders in the midst of blessings, but the recognizer cannot fit into expression.” The worth of the recognizer's spirit is not apparent. Do you know why? Because his spirit is not separate from the Presence. His bodily frame is like a shell, and his soul is like a pearl that originated from the Presence and returned to the Presence. If the soul had come from here, it would be soulish, and if it were soulish, the veil of dispersion would not have been incinerated. The fire of hell does not burn like the fire that burns in the recognizer's soul, for his fire is lit by friendship.
